O, Immanuel, Come!

Though unworthy for

you to come 'neath my roof, yet,

Come, Immanuel!

A comment from Miranda River on the Catholic Forum (June 1, 2012) is the touchstone for my haiku prayer.  How did I find Miranda?  I was looking, googling, for confirmation of where this prayer is lodged in the mass.  It comes right before one goes forward to receive the eucharist:

"Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but say only the word and my soul shall be healed."

I find this the most moving part of the Mass personally whilst I am in my own process of discernment and inquiry. I really do not feel worthy for the Lord to enter into my life, into my own 'reality' as there is a lot of my life that is contrary to Jesus' and the Church's teachings, and so I really don't feel worthy for God to come to me.... and yet there is part of me that is even afraid of the idea of my soul being healed. I do believe that this discernment process is a slow slow healing of my soul, but I do feel really confused too, its not a comforting or happy process, it often makes me feel sad and out of balance.

How do you personally connect with these words...?

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=681278

O Dawn (Sunday) and O Ruler (Monday)

Lord, our God, King of the Universe, 
Maker and Giver of life --
You who created the starry planets, 
You who ride on the wings of the morning --
Have mercy on me!



This is a prayer that bursts up from within me, seemingly unbidden, and consciously unknown in its source.  It is the form of a traditional Hebrew blessings.  Yet it blurts out as a petition, often coming when I am at the end of my rope or on "the shortest day of hope."  In the age of Google, I can search to find where it comes from.  But the only result is in March 2011 on this very blog, written by me.  Is it the prayer of a past life?  My own?  Or someone else's?  It is a prayer for today's fading yellow dawn.

O Key of David -- W D 40

O come, Thou Key of David, come, 
And open wide our heavenly home; 
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery.

W D 40,
grease interlocking frozen 
Fears! O Key, Release! 

When I went to the dog park the other day, my key would not fit into the lock.  Wrong key?  Broken lock?  But there was a man with two dogs in the park.  Hmmm...no WD 40 with me, the universal key to stuck locks.  Hah!  Instead I found I could reach my hand through the gate, behind the lock, and trip the latch.

God has the key and has made the universe of totally interlocking parts.  But what if the locks are rusted or frozen?  This took me to today's haiku, prayer.

"O come, Immanuel" by the Piano Guys

O Flower of Jesse

O Timeless Flower;

Bud, Seed, Source.  Re-conceive Thy-

Self: Kiss, Peace, Justice!

The psalmist writes: “Your HESED womb love was established forever.” Psalm 89:2

The angel says: “You will conceive in your womb…a kingdom that has no end.” Luke 1:31,33

Jesus says: “The kingdom of God is within/among you.” Luke 17:21

O, Flower, Upside Down,

open, dripping nectar

and catch the dawning light

of tender mercy;

Unfurl yourself, O,

so gracefully, with fearsome

Beauty.

Turn on

all the lights!

Lo, how a rose e’er blooming 

by Sufjan Stevens

O Lord!

O, Ha Shem, "I am,"
we live and move and have our 
Being in you, LORD. 

The name of God was considered to Holy to voice when reading Hebrew scripture.  Therefore, when the Hebrew letters YHWH appeared, the reader would say "ha shem," meaning, "the name" in Hebrew.  Praying, "O, LORD," can slip off my lips in many ways.  May I bow to "the name" that holds more than I can conceive.

Save us, O LORD, carry us back.
Rouse your power and come. 
Rescue your people, show us your face.  
Bring us home.

Bob Dufford, SJ 

O Wisdom! The last prayers of Advent.

O, Sophia, grieve
torn children! O Wisdom's Womb,
tame Terror's Heart!



For over 1,000 years, the traditional daily prayers for the last week before Christmas are called the O Antiphons.  They cry out to various images and qualities of God to come, be with us, and save us. The Litany of the Great River by Meinrad Craighead introduced me to this tradition.  I look for my deepest heart pray using these calls.

O God, great womb of wondrous love,
your Spirit moving on the deep
did wake a world within yourself,
a pulsing, lighted world from sleep.

Now come with rest, O Sabbath sun,
O Sanctuary, sacred home, 
we groan till all is grown complete,
fulfilled, at peace, O Great Shalom.

Text, Harris J. Loewen, Assembly Songs, 1983